


Just Another Ragnarok

by misura



Category: Machine City Knights - Erin A. Bisson
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 18:10:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or the prelude to one, anyway. Possibly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Another Ragnarok

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kalloway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/gifts).



> this ficlet indulges in a fair bit of speculation re: Sourcenet and Aidoneus and how the two interacted - I _think_ none of it was contradicted directly in canon, but I was unable to ~~stuff this book down my beta's throat as a must-read~~ locate a beta for the canon stuff on short notice, so um I'm not 100% sure.
> 
> (a treat.)

"Have you lost your _goddamned_ mind?"

Perhaps not the smartest question to ask, given where they were, but Eleni could find no fault with the gist of the inquiry. The longer Surya'd been talking about why he'd requested their presence here (where for 'requested', obviously, read 'commanded'), the more she'd begun wondering the same thing.

"Not in the past six months." Surya bared his teeth. "Before that, it depends on whom you ask."

Hard to imagine anyone hiring Surya as he was - even in the EISD. Then again, Eleni wasn't sure if she truly wanted to contemplate what could have happened to Surya to change him from your standard issue spook into the person he was today.

"Well, I don't see how anyone could argue Sourcenet hasn't been functioning quite like its usual self this past period," Astri said - and if anyone's presence at this meeting had come as a surprise, it had to be hers.

Not that Eleni considered herself and Halcyon major players of any kind, but she and Surya had had a certain kind of professional, mutually beneficial working relationship for several years now. She'd assumed he might have stumbled on something big, something even _he_ couldn't take on single-handedly.

Something like someone planning on taking over where Sourcenet was slipping, say.

_Well, and that's just about right, isn't it? Except for one small detail ..._

"Simply because it's our responsibility, that doesn't mean we're the ones who need to fix it," Halcyon said.

"If not us, then who?" Kilroy asked. "Not to agree with Agent Surya - " because all the digital gods forbid he would do so " - but it's obvious _someone_ needs to do something. And all the Sector Councils seem to be doing is to bury the data and hope the problem will go away by itself."

Somehow, Eleni rather suspected that rather a lot of the data had been 'buried' in the Seshat Archives, and probably marked as 'important', too.

"Rather like they did with the Bleeds."

Unfair, that - there had been a number of investigations into the cause of the Bleeds. As Kilroy should know, having free run of the Archives.

 _Then again, not as if any of those investigations was actually_ successful _, was it?_

"Just to be clear: you're not proposing we grow a new Tree from your dead body or anything?"

Surya grinned at her as if he'd been able to read every one of her thoughts since she'd stepped into Firerose Tower. "Given the documentation, a new Tree would require a living person at its roots, not simply a dead body. But no, Ilioni, that's not what I'm proposing. Sorry to disappoint."

Eleni mentally snorted. Arrogant bastard he might be, but some fates, she wouldn't wish on anybody, never mind the fact they'd been stupid enough to volunteer for it.

"We haven't got the knowledge for something like that, anyway," Kilroy said, prompting Eleni to once again wonder just how far he was into this with Surya. "Even the Tree's technicians have only got the vaguest ideas on how it works, let alone what to do when it doesn't."

"So why not take a more official route?" Halcyon asked. "Take it to the Parliament if you don't trust the Councils."

Kilroy smirked. Surya merely shrugged. "By the time the problem becomes serious enough for Parliament to be willing to listen, it's likely there would have been too much damage done already."

"And you want us to - what, exactly? Pat your head and tell you you're doing the right thing?"

"Tempting, but no." _Now, there's a surprise._ "What I want from you - from all of you - " Surya's blood-red gaze swept through the room, " - is your honest opinion."

_Well. Frag._

Halcyon leaned back in their chair, wings rustling as they made themselves more comfortable. "So what you're saying is: we're your dearest, most treasured friends, whose opinions you value very highly."

Astri choked, either on the notion that she could be considered one of Surya's friends, or on the idea that he had any to begin with. Surya offered her a very small smile.

"If that's how you want to interpret my request, I won't stop you." Surya made a sweeping gesture. "I can guarantee that nobody will be able to overhear anything you choose to say in this room." Astri opened her mouth. "Nor are there any recording devices present here. At least, none that are active. You can speak your mind."

"And the worst that can happen is you killing us, huh?"

"I shall try to restrain myself on that account."

Eleni forced herself to keep taking long, slow breaths as she gathered her thoughts. No doubt about it: what Surya was proposing bordered on megalomaniacal.

_So he's a lunatic - what else is new? The real question is: will it work? Can he really pull off something like this, create a replacement for Sourcenet?_

Firerose Tower was exceptional - no doubt about it. The systems guarding and maintaining it were unlike anything Eleni'd seen anywhere else - unfortunately, that definitely included the Tree.

"What would we lose?"

Surya looked faintly impressed for a brief moment. _Trick of the light, probably._ "Almost all the systems that concern themselves with the human population. Not communication - but we'd need to rely a lot more on people paying attention to what's going on around them."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning we'd be in control of our own destiny again," Kilroy - not Surya - said. "Freedom."

Surya's expression was slightly sardonic. "Freedom to screw up, among other things. Make no mistake, this isn't going to be making life any easier - for anyone. Right now, for a lot of people, Sourcenet makes sure they are able to live comfortably, without ever needing to worry about anything."

"Including thinking for themselves."

"If this is supposed to convince me replacing it with something else is a good idea, it's not really working."

"12% of Mowat's flora has withered over the past two months," Kilroy said. "Durrell's only at 8%, but it's clear that Sourcenet is lagging. Well, clear to anyone who hasn't got their head stuck in the sand."

"Less plants means a decreased oxygen production. The effects of _that_ won't be noticeable for a while yet - we do have some reserves, but sooner or later, things are going to take a turn for the worse, and it won't be an easy turn to reverse. Picture things in here becoming like they were out there," Surya invited. "That's about what we're talking about - minus the part where we'll have some nice place to get back to when it gets too hot."

Eleni remembered what she'd seen of the Tower's many floors already. The experiments. The gardens.

_He might actually have some idea what he's talking about. At least when it's plants._

"So why not try running those two Sectors by using your neat little program?" Halcyon asked.

_Because Sourcenet isn't programmed to put up with other systems. It put up with Aidoneus because it was supposed to, but Aidoneus isn't there any more._

"Sourcenet was created to follow the rules. Aidoneus was there for the exceptions - to deal with the unexpected. The intelligence to Sourcenet's artificiality, if you wish."

"The intelligence of the human mind."

"Of one human mind, at least." Surya's lips curved. "I hardly think any mind would do."

_If you did, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation._

"We didn't exactly do a great job of taking care of ourselves last time around, did we?" Halcyon said softly, and for one moment, Eleni thought they were referring to Pax.

"None of us was there, last time around," Surya said calmly.

"People have changed," Kilroy said.

"And, of course, anyone looking to start a new war may find themselves somewhat pressed for weapons." Surya smiled coldly. "To say nothing of finding themselves on the wrong side of the EISD."

 _Well,_ that's _reassuring._

"I say we should do it." Halcyon looked like they might fall out of their chair. Kilroy looked pleased, Astri, like she couldn't care less. Surya looked ... intrigued. "Hey, we already nuked Aidoneus. Might as well go all the way, right?"

_And you're wrong, Ci, as I think you know perfectly well. We crashed Aidoneus, that makes whatever's happening now our mess to clean up._

" 'We', Ilioni?"

"If you're going to do this, you'll need someone around to take you down a few pegs every now and then," she told Surya.

"Oh, I agree. I merely wondered what you viewed as _your_ role in this little revolution."


End file.
